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A U.S. judge has determined that the Justice Department can proceed with the disclosure of case files from the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the close associate of Jeffrey Epstein.

Court Order Clears the Path for Records Release

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the DOJ asked the court in November to make public grand jury records and exhibits from the cases of both Maxwell and Epstein. This action could lead to the release of hundreds or thousands of hitherto sealed documents.

The judge's decision, which comes in the wake of the recent passage of the Transparency Act, means these records could be made public within a 10-day period. The legislation requires the DOJ to provide Epstein-related records in a digitally searchable form by a specified date in December.

Growing Trend of Disclosure

Engelmayer is the second judge to permit the DOJ to publicly disclose previously secret Epstein court records. Recently, a judge in Florida approved a comparable petition to release transcripts from an abandoned federal grand jury investigation into Epstein from the early 2000s.

A further petition concerning records from Epstein's 2019 criminal case remains pending.

Scope of Release Greatly Expanded

The DOJ has stated that the U.S. Congress intended this unsealing when it passed the transparency act. The latest request vastly expanded the scope of files slated for release to include 18 categories of investigative materials during the extensive sex-trafficking investigation.

These documents are reported to include items such as:

• Court-issued warrants
• Financial records
• Notes from victim interviews
• Electronic device data
• Evidence from earlier Epstein investigations in Florida

Context of the Cases

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, was taken into custody in July 2019 on federal charges. He was discovered deceased in a prison cell a month later, with his death officially deemed a suicide. Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of sex-trafficking charges in December 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The federal authorities has indicated it is consulting survivors and their lawyers and plans to redact records to protect survivors' identities and prevent the dissemination of explicit imagery.

Prior Releases

Tens of thousands of pages of records pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell have already been released through different channels, including lawsuits, public disclosures, and Freedom of Information Act requests.

Much of the material the DOJ now plans to release originates from photos, videos, and reports gathered by police in Florida and the local U.S. attorney’s office, both of which investigated Epstein in the 2000s.

That investigation ended in 2008 with a then-secret arrangement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution by pleading guilty to a state charge. He completed 13 months in a work-release program.